Program Requirement:

This is a specialized and demanding program intended for students who wish to develop a strong basis in both Mathematics and Physics in preparation for graduate work and a professional or academic career. Although the program is optimized for theoretical physics, it is broad enough and strong enough to prepare students for further study in either experimental physics or mathematics.

The minimum requirement for entry into the program is completion with high standing of the usual CEGEP courses in physics and in mathematics, or the Physics Program Prerequisites as explained below. In addition, a student who has not completed the equivalent of MATH 222 must take it in the first term without receiving credit toward the 81 credits required in the Honours program.

A student whose average in the required and complementary courses in any year falls below a GPA of 3.00, or whose grade in any individual required or complementary course falls below a C (unless the student improves the grade to a C or higher through a supplemental exam or by retaking the course), may not register in the Honours program the following year, or graduate with the Honours degree, except with the permission of both departments. The student will have two advisers, one from Mathematics and the other from Physics.

Program Prerequisites

Students entering Physics programs from the Freshman program must have successfully completed the courses below or their equivalents. Quebec students must have completed the DEC with appropriate science and mathematics courses.

Physics: Introductory laboratory work and data analysis as related to mechanics, optics and thermodynamics. Introduction to computers as they are employed for laboratory work, for data analysis and for numerical computation. Previous experience with computers is an asset, but is not required.

Physics: Advanced laboratory work and data analysis as related to mechanics, optics and thermodynamics. Computers will be employed routinely for data analysis and for numerical computation, and, particularly, to facilitate the use of Fourier methods.

Physics: Angular momentum and spin operators. Operator methods in quantum mechanics. Coupling of spin and angular momenta. Variational principles and elements of time dependent perturbation theory (the Golden Rule). Solution of the Schrodinger equation in three dimensions. Applications to the hydrogen and helium atoms and to simple problems in atomic and molecular physics.

Mathematics & Statistics (Sci): In addition to the topics of MATH 320, topics in the global theory of plane and space curves, and in the global theory of surfaces are presented. These include: total curvature and the Fary-Milnor theorem on knotted curves, abstract surfaces as 2-d manifolds, the Euler characteristic, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for surfaces.